Tag Archives: Garnet Rogers

Tonight marked the opening of Edmonton’s Northern Lights Folk Club’s 19th season, and it opened with a bang—Garnet Rogers commanded the stage for two sets (and an encore). In an unequivocal demonstration of support for live folk music, the line-up before the doors opened stretched out of the building and down the sidewalk. The show was sold out, just a few hopeful (and extremely lucky) folks got in when someone had an extra ticket because _________ friend/family member couldn’t come.*

Rogers cuts an imposing figure. He is a tall man, his voice is strong, and he selects his guitar from a rack filled with instruments possessing unique histories, which he happily shares. But the number one thing you take away from his concert has nothing to do with his height and everything to do with his stories. Whether it is through song or speech (or written down—now in the form of the book Night Drive) Rogers has an impeccable gift for telling a good story. With the song “Small Victory” he told us the tale of a mare rescued from slaughter, the very first stanza gives you a sense of Rogers’ attention to literary detail:

You’ve no business buying a mare like that But buy her if you must He bit the end off his cigar And spat it in the dust She’s old, she’s lame and barren too She’s not worth feeding hay But I’ll give her this, he blew smoke at me, She was something in her day.

Within seconds you are at that dusty horse auction buying that mare. Although the song has a melancholic air, it also conveys the hope in the title. Rogers succeeds in sharing a part of his emotional connection to his horses with his audience, and it set us up for a hilarious tale (FedEx and artificial insemination) about that mare’s offspring. Rogers’ tales read from Night Drive drew the audience in as much as his musical offerings did and he took us from being all of fourteen on a beach in Port Dover to a workshop stage on another coast line in Vancouver.

David Alan Eadie from their days in the Stan Rogers trio joined him on stage for the encore—beginning with a rousing sing-a-long chorus of “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore”, once again set up by a reading from Night Drive. Seeing as I can’t even approach Rogers’ dramatic story-telling prowess, I’ll just say get the book, read it, and imagine a room filled with folkies singing along at the conclusion of Chapter 9. This is Rogers farewell tour of the West, so if you are from Edmonton and want to see Rogers play live then you are going to have to be the one to do the travelling. Check upcoming tour dates on his website,

*If this was you (or someone you know) I’d advise signing up for the Northern Lights Folk Club mailing list, HERE. They send you handy reminders so you aren’t standing outside the show in the cold hoping for a miraculous ticket to appear.